For much needed insight into the confounding world of paid digital media I staked out a seat at American Advertising Federation’s Tampa chapterDoing Digital Media Right meeting when they imported Goodway Group’s COO Jay Friedman from Dallas to talk shop. Thanks to a small class size, comfortable venue, and a generous with advice accessible speaker I got plenty of big data answers to my small data questions. (Also see online spending: search vs. display)

media plan starts with organization

At Goodway, the emphasis is on holistic planning. Just like the health philosophy of the same name, holistic planning encourages a broad view of the entire online landscape in order to organize strategy in a thoughtful, targeted manner:

Search – familiar to most as SEO

Display – the creative side of digital; makes a difference

Paid Social – make your bid, measure the results

Mobile – currently a work in progress; tracking is problematic

Video – big brands quick to snatch up pro broadcast inventory

Each component requires a distinct approach; all relate to each other, none are identical. Which is where yet another inscrutible to the common eye acronym snuck in undert the tent. At Goodway, BOTTM is practiced religiously, devoutly, and without exception.

Conversion codes are mandatory. If you can’t cut and paste, find someone who can.

BOTTM is the mnemonic device used for Budget, Objective, Timing, Targeting, and Markets (geo). Of these, Friedman counts Objective to be the single most important, as in, what’s yours? Awareness? No sale. Females between 20 – 35? Not enough. Go long, he says, think big and specific.

Clients need to be prodded and poked to imagine goals and objectives that should include distinct, measurable descriptors. It’s a big ocean. Lacking those labels means almost certain disappointment when the expected gains from targeting “young urban males” fail to materialize.

healthy stats need a healthy four-part pyramid

The components of a successful digital marketing program start with a sturdy foundation: pay attention to profile management fundamentals which begin with a complete Google profile.

Web sites and online social assets need to be up-to-date, with relevant content and optimized code. (Once again, the absence of fast loading is pointed to as the number one reason for page abandonment. And whether it’s a blog seminar or an HTML class, if you don’t know your PNG 24 from your JPG, get some help. Coding likewise.)

The two top tiers are Paid Search, and lastly Paid Media. Both utilize digital data, and constitute the fundamentals of measurement and analysis. About Paid Media, Friedman recommends buying both users and pages for best results.

it’s not just digital

In spite of the latest numbers that show digital revenue now accounts for more than print and newspapers combined, Friedman backs up using a broad mix of media, including traditional, for the best results with stats that show significantly improved conversions for inclusive campaigns versus those using only digital – good news for out-of-home, print, and broadcast.